Job.com, an industry leading career portal, commissioned this research to gauge the outlook of job seekers across the country and offer them an opportunity to share and compare with others. With its innovative Quidget technology, Netpop Research, LLC gathered the opinions of over 16,000 people across hundreds of websites between Sept. 20 and Dec. 12, 2010. Over 7,000 of these respondents were unemployed and looking for work at the time they participated.

The poll’s most compelling statistic found that over 54% of participants who were identified as “unemployed” said that the job market is “dire” with “no hope in sight”. The outlook among job seekers worsened in October and early November, hitting its lowest point in the first week of November, right in the midst of the midterm elections. With the shift in control of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican Party emerged victorious, which was deemed as a clear sign of American’s discontent with the economy among politicians and media alike.

The downturn in outlook also coincided with discouraging reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing no change or gains in unemployment. The unchanging unemployment rate coupled with the threat of long-term unemployment benefits expiring at the end of November are key influencers of job seeker’s pessimistic views of the labor market. Interestingly, the poll revealed that the outlook declined most steeply among job seekers who consider networking the best place to go for leads. Social networking may amplify discouraging reports in the media, heightening a lack of confidence among those looking for a job.

On a brighter note, some unemployed Americans are happy to be taking time off. To take advantage of their sojourn from the workforce they are spending time with family (39%), traveling or indulging in hobbies (34%) or going back to school (32%). In fact, the percent who plan to not to go back to work for another year or two increased over the duration of the poll. Hearing gloomy news on the job market likely prompted them to prolong their “sabbaticals.”

Finally, for those fortunate-enough to still be employed, “quality of life” would be the primary consideration factor for switching jobs. Thirty-one percent say “better quality of life” would get them to consider a new job, compared to just 21% who would look for a “big raise or promotion.” One-fourth (24%) would consider a new job if it gave them an “opportunity to do what they love.” Clearly, there is more to job-satisfaction than a fat paycheck.

"There’s no doubt that the lack of consumer confidence in Washington played a vital role in influencing the views and opinions of job seekers regarding the condition of the job market,” said Brian Alden, President and CEO of Job.com. “Our goals for conducting this ongoing poll with Netpop are to reveal the hopes and fears of job seeker’s in today’s job market while learning from the results to deliver additional information and services on Job.com to assist them with their 2011 job search.”

Job.com and Netpop Research will be releasing their next set of poll results in early March to reveal an updated “pulse of the job market." With a new Tax Bill in effect which prevents taxes from rising in the New Year and extends jobless benefits for the unemployed in hard-hit states, there may be a change in the current attitudes and behaviors of job seekers.

Other results include:

3 in 10 job seekers consider online job boards to be the best place to go for leads

These “job board enthusiasts” were more optimistic than other job seekers in the dark days of November and December. (Researching job openings rather than social media commentary presumably improved their outlook.)

Employed workers are far more optimistic than job seekers, reminding us of the need to “take a walk in another’s shoes”

“We are very pleased to be working with Job.com to capture the pulse of the U.S. job market,” says Josh Crandall, CEO and Co-Founder of Netpop. “The Web is social. It is a place for connection and conversation. Using Quidgets to engage the target audience on the web, we are able to put customer-driven companies like Job.com in the middle of the dialogue, connecting companies with their customers around the common interests they share and resulting in constructive insights and outcomes.”

For more detailed finding from the Pulse of the Job Market Quidget see:

The Quidget Internet poll was fielded through Netpop’s proprietary Quidget technology which creates quick and compelling engagements between brands and people, distributed across the Web through IAB-compliant ad units. Due to the non-scientific method used to sample respondents, findings are only representative of the individuals who elected to participate. For more info: www.netpop.com.

About Job.com

Job.com, headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, is an online full service career portal offering thousands of targeted jobs across its network of over 70 industry and regionally focused career sites. Job.com specializes in helping employers and recruiters hire qualified employees, while providing job seekers with a variety of career and job search enhancing services, products and resources. With over 26 million registered members, Job.com's candidates represent every state in the U.S. and come from 70 different disciplines ranging from IT to Sales to Executive Management. Whether you are an employer looking for a new hire, or a candidate looking to be hired, Job.com is dedicated to providing a unique experience with unparalleled service. For more information, please visit www.job.com.

About Netpop/Netpop Research LLC

Netpop is a San Francisco‐based consumer insights and online advertising firm. Netpop offers full-service market research services and innovative Quidget® campaigns. Quidgets are simple engagements between brands and people around interests they share. Distributed across the Web, Quidgets create an open, constructive dialogue between brands and the people they most want to reach for branding, direct response and market insights. Netpop has conducted more than 500,000 interviews with the “NetPopulation,” in over 20 languages and 40 countries around the world.

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